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The Wisconsin Conservation Congress plans to ask the public whether a hunt is a good idea at its spring hearings Monday, less than a month after a Republican bill that would have created a hunt died in the Legislature after bird lovers railed that hunters already kill enough animals.

The question promises to re-ignite a heated debate. Wisconsin prides itself on its hunting heritage. Hunting advocates argue the sandhill population is out of control and the birds devour farmers’ corn seeds. But the state also is home to the International Crane Foundation, one of the world’s leading crane protection organizations, not to mention throngs of people who admire sandhills.

PLEASE. Attend your local Conservation Congress meeting at 7:00 p.m.on Monday, April 9, 2012 and vote NO on the sandhill crane hunt in Wisconsin. This is VERY IMPORTANT.

On February 22, 2012 state representatives Joel Kleefisch (R 38), Joan Ballweg (R 44) and
Richard Spanbauer (R 53) introduced AB613 a bill which would requires that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) authorize the hunting of sandhill cranes.

Advocates of the crane hunting legislation, introduced on Wednesday by State Representative Joel Kleefisch, emphasized that it would allow officials to limit the number of cranes harvested and would require hunters to complete an education course. Officials from the International Crane Foundation said they were maintaining a neutral stance because the foundation views itself as a conservation group focused on scientific research about cranes and their ecosystems, not on politics.

Mark Berres, an assistant professor of avian biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that even with a growing number of sandhill cranes, far more needed to be studied about their genetic diversity and fledgling rates, adding, “I can’t understand how you’re going to open up a hunting season before you learn more.”

It was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources. Please let them know that you do not support AB 613. This committee includes:

Was it just a slow news day in the office of state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, or does he really think hunting sandhill cranes is a good idea? I find it hard to believe he speaks in any way for responsible hunters and gun owners in Wisconsin or even Oconomowoc.

First it was mourning doves. Then it was crows. Now it’s sandhill cranes. Maybe he’ll next suggest that the state issue license plates with the new state motto: “If It Moves, Kill It.”

A Wisconsin lawmaker has quietly proposed a bill that would let hunters blast the birds to stop them from chewing up farmers’ cornfields. The legislation promises to spark a bitter debate in a state that is both defined by its deep-rooted hunting traditions and serves as home to the International Crane Foundation, one of the world’s premier crane protection organizations.

“I don’t think this is the state to push for a crane hunt,” said Karen Etter Hale, a vice president of the Wisconsin Audubon Council. “If hunters want to further damage their reputations by pushing for yet another species to hunt, then that’s what they should do.”